An artificial intelligence (AI) developed in 2015 by scientists at Cambridge University was able to anticipate a person’s personality and values more accurately than friends, coworkers, and even close relatives. An essential fact was illustrated by this straightforward AI algorithm: AI understands us better than humans do.
Having people who can collaborate well will be an organization’s greatest competitive edge in the AI era, rather than having the best technology. Establishing cultures that value inquiry, teamwork, and resilience will become increasingly important for leaders as AI becomes more accessible and proficient at automating our intellectual capital. Strategic self-awareness lies at the core of building these capacities. Understanding who we are and how our actions affect people around us is the first step toward growing and changing. Saying this is not as easy as doing it.
Empirical research indicates a definite connection between enhanced leadership effectiveness and strategic self-awareness. Regretfully, only 10% of leaders are able to pinpoint their areas of improvement. This is the reason why:
We don’t speak truth to power: because honest feedback is obstructed by power dynamics. When subordinates are afraid of the repercussions of being critical, they tend to respond with sugarcoated words or remain silent, which keeps leaders from fully appreciating their influence.
Backed by bias and ego: We are frequently protected from criticism by our exaggerated egos and cognitive prejudices. Growth and self-awareness are stifled because we look for data to support our beliefs and ignore criticism that contradicts how we see ourselves.
Organizations are feedback deserts: They frequently don’t have formalized feedback mechanisms that promote open conversation. Conventional performance appraisals fall short in giving continuous, real-time feedback because they are shallow and sporadic. Leaders overlook vital information necessary for true self-awareness and development when there isn’t a culture of psychological safety and openness.
Being more proactive in providing and accepting feedback is imperative for executives who wish to establish the cultures necessary to sustain a competitive edge in the AI Age. Thankfully, the same technology can also make the procedure less painful, more efficient, and easier. With its foundation in behavior modification science, artificial intelligence (AI) is demonstrating its worth as a tool for elevating a leader’s strategic self-awareness and, more crucially, converting that elevated awareness into long-term transformation.
You can use AI in three ways to help you become a more self-aware leader:
Create a data-driven baseline of your risks and strengths
It’s common knowledge that we should play to our strengths, yet scientific evidence indicates that this is not always the case. The “too much of a good thing” effect is more likely to occur in us when we depend more on our abilities. If you’re a leader who is structured and disciplined, for example, you can end up being stiff and unyielding. Likewise, if you’re a motivated and competitive leader, you could easily turn into someone who is controlling and intrusive. We should see how the actions that initially support us eventually become risky and ineffective rather than focusing more on our advantages. The first step in identifying these gaps is to conduct scientific talent assessments. It is said that you cannot manage what you do not measure.
For many years, psychometric leadership evaluations have been a reliable means of creating an empirical and data-driven foundation for identifying areas in which improvement is needed. That being said, the majority of scientific instruments are costly and not easily expandable. Fortunately, at a fraction of the time and money, artificial intelligence is producing assessments that accurately identify a leader’s primary motivations and traits (you can test one here). The outcome? By using AI, businesses may provide executives and employees with the information they require to acquire the most up-to-date soft skills and abilities.
Curate your learning experience with AI
Due to their impersonal and one-size-fits-all methodology, traditional development plans frequently fall short. Usually, they are stationary, incapable of adjusting to the distinct requirements and changing objectives of different leaders. Any leader may now design playbooks for personal development that are customized to their team’s difficulties and change in real time thanks to generative AI capabilities. This flexible strategy guarantees that leaders get the assistance and resources they require at the appropriate time, promoting ongoing development and advancement.
Developing new behaviors that reduce our risks requires persistence and concentration, much like training for a marathon. The latter can benefit from AI assistance, but the former depends on our willpower. According to studies, the best methods for changing behavior and forming new habits are tailored techniques and personalized feedback. Although using an AI coach may seem odd at first, if you haven’t tried it already, start by playing around with generative AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT. Try asking it to create a 90-day plan once you’ve defined clear, quantifiable goals for yourself. Does it provide more positive comments than the last performance review you received? Probably!
Establish a culture of ongoing feedback
No one exercises leadership in a vacuum. Effective leaders are characterized by the traits of their followers as much as by their own personal traits. The objective of a leader should be to discover methods to capitalize on the cognitive variety of their team and modify their approach to suit their demands. Luckily, advances in AI can also be helpful in this situation. AI may assist leaders in creating a strong feedback culture among their teams, which has been shown to improve performance, by democratizing access to evaluations and coaching resources.
In creating exceptional cultures, AI-enabled tools and data-driven evaluations are only partially effective. People, not technology, are what define an organization. Creating an environment of psychological safety where people feel comfortable sharing ideas and mistakes without fear of rejection or retaliation is a leadership responsibility. This entails leaders remaining aware of specific actions, like seeing mistakes as teaching moments, allowing others to attempt novel strategies, and leveraging curiosity to dispel defensiveness. Being self-aware is essential to setting an example for these behaviors and demonstrating best practices to your team.
Organizations’ ability to continuously innovate and adapt will be their greatest competitive edge in the AI era. Being self-aware is essential; it’s not a luxury. In order to promote a culture of mutual understanding and continual growth, leaders must create settings where feedback is a continuous conversation. Then and only then will we be able to fully utilize AI to enhance human creativity and propel corporate success.
